I didn’t know what to say to Aiden. I was pretty sure he would tell me to take the money. For years we’d been trying to save enough money to pay Lucio, but something always happened, and I didn’t want to take from his business, anyway.

“Cal.” Aiden’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

I took a deep breath, wincing. “She wants to give me money to pay off Lucio,” I said, groaning as I pulled my shirt over my head. The pain was getting worse, and I had to breathe through the pain.

“Let me guess. You told her no.” He sat down at the edge of my bed.

“Of course I did.” I wanted to snap at him from my frustration, but I knew that would be a dick move.

“Good,” he said, nodding his head.

I stopped what I was doing. “What do you mean, good?”

“If he finds out she gave you that money, I’d be afraid that he would figure out some way to get more from you or use you to get more. He’s a sneaky bastard.”

“I thought the same thing.” I was still skeptical that we agreed.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he snapped. “As much as I would love for you to take that money, I’m not a fucking idiot. I know her money would be more trouble for us. I don’t want to put her at risk.”

I nodded because I thought the same thing.

“I feel like I’ve made her life difficult already.” I said, pulling some joggers on and the pain felt like it worsened.

“You can’t drive like that. You’re going to get into an accident. Give me a minute.” Aiden got up from my bed and left my room. I slowed down a little, trying to get this pain under control. My vision was swimming, and I was hoping it wasn’t a severe concussion. I finished getting ready, and sat in the living room, glad Aiden had offered to take me to Jane. He walked into the living room, grabbing his keys, and we walked out to his car. The drive was brutal. Every minor bump was making me groan in pain, and all the tension was making it worse. The closer we got to her house, the more nervous I felt.

“What do I tell her?” I asked.

“The truth,” Aiden said matter-of-factly. “We said from the beginning we were going to be honest.”

I nodded because he was right. No matter how much I wanted to protect Jane, she was a grown woman. She deserved to be treated the same as Nathan or Aiden.

“She’s a smart woman. We have to give her credit to make her own decisions. You need to give her all the facts.” Aiden was so much better at his stuff than I was.